Nothing much going on!

It's hot and I'm miserable (so what's new). So far it's only hitting around the low 30°C but it's on it's way up and I can feel the slump coming on. In summer it usually tops at around 36°C (around 96°F) but I have, on very rare occasions, seen it hit 40°C! The big difference over here is that most people in France don't have AC. Oh some put a window AC in their bedrooms but throughout the house - nope! I usually make do with a very small AC fan on the table near where I sit and tonight I've put the bigger stand-alone AC unit on in the bedroom. Other than that, I usually get by with 2-3 cold showers a day, but I have to admit it can quickly sink me into a bad, depressed mood so today I knew I had to do something about it!

Just to make my day, this morning the guy I call "Pushy Roof Guy" hammered at the door looking to pressure me into getting work done. I think he's a traveller as he always seems to come around this time of year but unlike many "door-to-door salesmen" (con artists) he actually does a good job and quite a few people in our neighbourhood use his services as it seems there is nothing he can't do. Problem is, I always seem to end up owing him at least €1,000 for work he does, so I told him not this year as I'd been hammered by all the work I'd had to get done after the fire (didn't mention that some of it was for the bathrooms) but he really, really is very persistent (read "pain in the arse"). This time, however, I stood my ground even though he was offering me a "special deal" and we could "work out a payment plan"! I'd just ordered heating fuel and then the service engineers came to service my heating system and I'm heamorraghing money at the moment, so nope, no thanks this year Mr. Pushy! 

Talking of being a money sieve at the moment, I also just had a renewal notice from Bill Gates who is now going to increase my Microsoft plan from €69 last year to €99 as from July! While I still have time to cancel it (like I did with Norton), does anyone know if cancelling it takes Microsoft off my computer completely, or would I just be stuck with the non-latest update?

Back to talking about trades, my electrician sent me a message last week to ask what I thought of the plumber he had recommended. I told him I was very pleased indeed and sent him pictures so he asked if he could stop by for coffee if he's ever in the area!!! Sure, "come up and see my plumbing" certainly has a different ring to it than "come over and see my etchings"!

In more ongoing bad news, the local lady that went missing almost four weeks ago now has still not been found, despite repeated searches and pleas for assistance. One of the ladies at sewing club mentioned that in amongst her volunteer work she often invited "social cases" into her home so I believe that is one of the theories that police are following up on. How sad if her generosity of spirit ends up getting her killed!

In slightly better news, the organization where André works is laying off as many as 1,000 people worldwide so he has been on a bit of a nail-biting ride. I told him initially they would offer separation packages to those close to retirement, to be followed by anyone not at retirement age but who wanted to leave anyway. After that it's been the temps that have been cut, which is always very sad because even though they may be on temporary contracts, many of them have been there for years. I told André not to worry too much because if you compared him to someone like me, say, who were basically doing the same job but I was much older and had way more experience so obviously was a higher grade, well who do you think was costing the organzation the most - me or him? With me they not only had the higher salary payments, medical insurance subsidies for me and the two boys (my ex had his own insurance), pension scheme contributions, home leave back to the UK (in my case) every two years for the whole family and education grant allowance for both my kids, so who did he think they would want to get rid of first - me or him? I think it reassured him and in any case if he were to be let go he would leave with quite a large sum of money by the time they'd paid him out his pension fund contributions etc. Still, he'd then be one of many chasing after scarce few jobs wouldn't he. My neighbour worked at a big bio-chemical company in Geneva that closed down a few years ago and 1,300 people were then chasing after those even scarcer jobs! Scary times indeed, but as he's just been put in charge of two more units I'm crossing my fingers that things are going to be okay for him!

In more strange news, I recently received a communication from the GoFundMe started by MP Rupert Lowe to fund a private investigation into the UK grooming gangs, to say that my contribution was being refunded to me. I guess this is in connection with the fact that the UK Government has now pretty much been forced into starting an investigation, despite having dodged that hot potato for many, many years! I'd be more than happy for them to keep my contribution but I guess it is at least honest that they are going to be handing the money back now that it is no longer needed!

The other day, the door shutter from my bedroom onto my balcony blew open (I always keep it shut) and to my horror I saw a 10" wasps' (or hornets'?) nest hanging from the beam!!!! It isn't the first time this has happened to me so I did what I did last time - ran round shutting all the doors and windows and armed with a set of matches, a fire extinguisher and wasp spray, set fire to that bugger. It went up like a Chinese lantern and was out within a few seconds, but I gave it a good blast of fire extinguisher just in case and fingers crossed I'll be good until next year!

After that I decided that despite the heat, I really should take myself off to the gym I was paying for so I toddled off down there and made it about an hour on the bike reading my book, and then a few piddly machines before heat stroke nearly took me out. It was quite embarassing though because there was an older lady there (I'm guessing about my own age) who was in great shape and doing some impressive weight exercises and here I was a puddle of dripping sweat staggering back down the stairs. That will either motivate you or make you give up completely. I'm just not sure which at the moment!

The other Saturday we were invited to attend Charlie's end of year concert where they were putting on a concert called "planets" and Charlie's group, being the youngest, did a whole routine about the "Planet of the Blue Bunnies". They all did really, really well and I am in awe of the teachers who have the patience to teach these routines to all those kids - it must be like herding cats! It was all very civilised though as as soon as we walked in were were all handed a glass of either fruit juice or sangria - guess which one I chose! There was a bike race coming through our village that day and as they would be blocking our entry and exit roads, in order not to get blocked in on such an important day, I set off early for a walk round the Lac du Môle where I had lunch and then listened to the end of the book The Mountbattens! I did wonder if they were going to "go there" in the book, in that for many, many years it had been an open secret that Mountbatten "swung both ways" (fine, his choice) but that he liked them "extremely young", and by "extremely" I mean extremely! There were even pretty convincing "testimonies" that he had young boys between the ages of eight and twelve delivered to his house (allegedly) and did the same with young girls. It was apparently common knowledge amongst the upper echelons and many of them partook at the same time (still going on today, from what I gather)! I knew of him when I was growing up but for some reason I never liked him - so maybe, just maybe, my instincts were spot on for once!

Lac du Môle. This was taken by drone
so I don't know who to attribute it to!

I've taken myself off a couple of times for a walk at Passy but today I didn't walk, I just sat in the shade with a glass of wine to enjoy the scenery and the kids playing in the water - it really is one of my favourite places around here!

Lac de Passy

And finally, I received a notification of another day trip with one of my old fogies groups to the Col de la Forclaz in July. It's above Lake Annecy and not very far at all, so I signed up for that as well. Obviously these bus companies know the best places to visit and to eat - and I don't have to worry about parking, so I'll let you know how it goes later in July!

A google image of Col de la Forclaz!